System and method for providing consumer rewards

ABSTRACT

An automated consumer rewards/incentive program that accepts a registration of a consumer. The registration entitles the consumer to receive the benefits of the incentive program. To track the fulfillment of reward earning criteria established by member businesses, the registration includes information indicative of a credit card of the consumer. The system uses the credit card information to determine when member customers perform a transaction at a member business. When a member customer performs a transaction at a member business using the registered credit card, the system and method examines the credit card transactional information to determine if the consumer fulfilled the requirements of the incentive program for the member business. If the transactional information indicates that the consumer fulfilled the criteria of the rewards program of the member business, the consumer is rewarded in accordance with the benefits of the incentive program.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/802,082 filed on Mar. 8, 2001, which claims the priority date of U.S.provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/221,468 filed on Jul. 26,2000. These prior applications are incorporated herein by reference intheir entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to consumer reward or incentiveprograms and, more specifically, to a system and method for providing anautomated consumer reward program.

In the prior art, various consumer reward programs are known. Forexample, the airline industry allows a consumer to make a planereservation and to specify a frequent flyer number that is specific tothe airline for which the reservation is made. In this manner, when thereservation is fulfilled by the consumer taking the reserved flight, theconsumer is rewarded with redeemable frequent flyer miles. Suchreservations can be made using a network, for example, the Internet, byphone, etc.

By way of further example, it is also known in the restaurant industryto provide a means by which consumers can make dining reservations andbenefit from a rewards program. In this regard, reservations can be madevia access to a Web site, such as www.opentable.com. Reservations madethrough “OpenTable” allow a consumer to earn “OpenTable points” that areredeemable for rewards. To earn the points, the consumer must arrive atthe restaurant before or at the reservation time and check in with therestaurateur who will then notify “OpenTable” of the reservationfulfillment. If the consumer fails to check in with the restaurateur,the consumer must mail a copy of the dining receipt to “OpenTable”within three months to notify “OpenTable” of the reservationfulfillment. For this service the restaurateur is charged a fee.

While the described systems work for their intended purpose, they dosuffer various disadvantages. For example, the currently implementedairline consumer reward program requires the consumer to remember theirappropriate frequent flyer number and to individually register with eachof the airlines to access the large population of reward providers.Meanwhile, the on-line reservation system of “OpenTable” requires theperformance of some action by either the consumer or the restaurateur(beyond actual fulfillment of the reservation) to ensure the awarding ofrewards. Accordingly, a need exists for an improved system and methodfor providing consumers rewards.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with this need, the subject invention provides anautomated consumer rewards/incentive program that requires minimal humanintervention and which is substantially transparent to the consumer andto the business owner. To this end, the subject system and methodaccepts a registration of a consumer that entitles the consumer toreceive the benefits of the incentive program. To track the fulfillmentof reward earning criteria established by member businesses, theregistration includes information indicative of a credit card of theconsumer. The system uses the credit card information to determine whenmember customers perform a transaction at a member business. When amember customer performs a transaction at a member business using theregistered credit card, the system and method examines the credit cardtransactional information to determine if the consumer fulfilled therequirements of the incentive program for the member business, e.g.,purchased goods/services from a member business, fulfilled a reservationat a member business, etc. If the transactional information indicatesthat the consumer fulfilled the criteria of the rewards program of themember business, the consumer is rewarded in accordance with thebenefits of the incentive program. The system and method also tracks andcommunicates information to members and businesses such as, for example,accumulated rewards, summaries of transactions and balances.

In a further embodiment of the invention, the system may be implementedon-line to leverage the functionality of the Internet. In this manner,the system provides a versatile tool for meeting a variety of needs ofboth consumers and businesses. For example, a business can use theInternet to change information in real-time using an online connectionwith the system.

A better understanding of the objects, advantages, features, propertiesand relationships of the invention will be obtained from the followingdetailed description and accompanying drawings which set forth anillustrative embodiment and which are indicative of the various ways inwhich the principles of the invention may be employed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to apreferred embodiment shown in the following drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a flow chart diagram of an exemplary system fordetermining consumer awards in accordance with the subject invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary network in which theprinciples of the subject invention may be employed;

FIGS. 3 a-3 e illustrate an exemplary Web page map for use in connectionwith the subject invention;

FIGS. 4 a-4 b illustrate data flow in the exemplary network illustratedin FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow chart of an exemplary method for determiningif an incentive has been met by a consumer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Turning now to the figures, wherein like reference numerals refer tolike elements, there is illustrated a system and method for providingconsumer rewards. While the invention is particularly described in thecontext of the restaurant business, it is to be understood that thisdescription is exemplary only and is not meant to be limiting. As willbe described in greater detail hereinafter, the subject system andmethod generally functions by capturing and processing credit cardtransactions originating from restaurants to thereby generate rebatesand rewards for member consumers. The system and method also maintainsmember restaurant information, maintains member consumer information,and maintains audit trails.

To become eligible to participate in the rewards program, both consumersand restaurants register to become members. Restaurant registration willinclude a credit card merchant number, identification of a credit cardpoint of sale machine, as well as the details of an awards program.Consumer registration will include a major credit card number. When theconsumer uses the registered credit card at a member restaurant, all orpart of the credit card transaction information, e.g., credit cardnumber, merchant identification information, purchase amount, day oftransaction, time of transaction, etc, is examined to determine if themember consumer has dined at the member restaurant and, if so, whetherthe member consumer has fulfilled the requirements of the incentiveprogram of the member restaurant. In exchange for becoming a memberrestaurant, a restaurant can allow the plan provider to derive incomefrom the proceeds of the credit card transaction.

To provide an automated system that essentially eliminates the need forhuman intervention, the credit card transactional information issubjected to a two-tier filtration process as illustrated in FIG. 1. Inone step, credit card transactions are filtered to determine if atransaction took place at a member restaurant (e.g., by checkingmerchant identification numbers against a list of member merchantidentification numbers). In another step, credit card transactions arefiltered to determine if a transaction was made by a member consumer(e.g., by checking credit card numbers against a list of member consumercredit card numbers). The illustrated steps can occur in any order. Ifthe credit card transactional information indicates that a memberconsumer purchased goods or services from the member restaurant, theremaining credit card transactional information can be examined todetermine if the transaction fulfills the criteria for receiving awardsas established by the member restaurant.

While not required, the system and method described hereinafter seeks tomaximize the potential of a network, such as the Internet, to change therelationship between restaurants and their customers. This goal isparticularly achieved by building a comprehensive, dependable, anduseful network resource that links businesses and consumers withsophisticated interactive marketing, yield management, and customerrelationship management capabilities. Both consumers and businesses willbenefit from a centralized resource that combines unbiased information,an incentive program, and value-added activities such as onlinereservations and promotions to facilitate and enhance the experience ofthe consumer.

It will also be appreciated that various types of components can beutilized to achieve the objects of the subject invention. For example,while the invention is described as including the components illustratedin FIG. 2, namely, a consumer computer 10, a restaurant computer 12, amerchant credit card reader 14, a credit card aggregator service serverand associated database 16, and the Web site/rewardsprocessing/reservation taking, etc. system server and associateddatabase 18, one of skill in the art will readily appreciate that othercomponents and arrangements can be utilized. By way of example, whilethe operation of the invention is described in the general context ofcomputer executable instructions, or program modules, being executed onthe illustrated components, the tasks performed by these modules mayalso be performed by equivalent hardware. Still further, it is to beunderstood that the components illustrated in FIG. 2 are not intended tobe limited to any particular type of computing device and may includehand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor based orprogrammable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframecomputers, etc. With respect to the use of a network, the invention maybe practiced in a distributed processing environment where tasks areperformed by remote processing devices that are linked through acommunications network. Alternatively, various of the components, suchas the Web site system server and the credit card aggregator server, canbe integrated on a single machine.

In accordance with the description that follows, the system and methodwill provide consumers with a one-stop shop approach to dining. Userswill not only gain access to a trusted information resource on diningchoices (listings, surveys, ratings, promotions) but also to aconvenient tool for following through with their dining decisions bymaking reservations online. In addition, users will receive specialincentives, such as money discounts or alternate currencies/points, whenthey dine at member restaurants. The trigger for awarding incentiveswill be transparent and accomplished via a registered credit card. Thesystem and method may also be adapted to offer personalization, e.g.,recommendations of restaurants based on past dining activities, etc.,and premium member status.

To restaurants, the system and method is designed to become the dominantinteractive partner. With a comprehensive focus on improving top andbottom lines of restaurants, the system and method will help restaurantsmarket on a national scale, add marketing and promotional activity tothe Internet and offer a completely new customer yield management tool,namely, variable dining incentives for the purpose of drivingincremental traffic to member businesses. This tool will enablerestaurants to post variable incentives, discounts or dining points, tostimulate demand during off-peak periods.

During operation, there will be two different types of users of thesystem. One type of user will be the consumer, who will use the site toperform restaurant searches, make dining reservations, etc. The othertype of user is the restaurant. The restaurant will use the site tomanage their reservations, dining incentive offerings and tableallocation.

To maximize the functionality of the system, the system is adapted toprovide for different levels of use by consumers and restaurants.Examples of different levels of use may include:

Anonymous user—Can be either a consumer or a restaurateur. This userwill not be recognized by the site but will be marketed to by offeringdifferent promotional opportunities to the user for increasing his levelof participation on the site. This user can perform most functionalitysuch as restaurant searches or reservations. However, this user will nothave a “personalized” home page that will track the user's pendingreservations and dining history and will not be able to take advantageof the incentives offered by the different restaurants.

Level 1 consumer—A level 1 user has accessed the system and has suppliedthe system with a name, e-mail address, zip code, user ID and password.This user will be acknowledged by the system and will have a“personalized” home page. The user will be able to use most all of thefunctionality offered by the site but will not be able to take advantageof the incentives offered by the different restaurants.

Level 2 consumer—A level 2 user has accessed the system and has agreedto all of the requirements of the system. The user has provided thesystem with his credit card information along with the necessary billinginformation, and the required information for a Level 1 consumer. Alevel 2 consumer will be able to take full advantage of the site'sfunctionality including earning incentive points or dollars back bydining at participating restaurants. The level 2 consumer will have a“personalized” page that will track the user's pending reservations, theincentives that the consumer has registered for and any incentive pointsthat the consumer has earned by dining.

Type 0 restaurant—This is a restaurant that has not signed up to be amember of the system and method but is nevertheless listed in therestaurant search results.

Type 1 restaurant—This is a restaurant that has signed up to be a memberof the system and method interested only in editing its content page.

Type 2 restaurant—A restaurant that has signed up to be a member of thesystem and method interested only in online reservations exclusive of anincentives program. Editable content regarding the restaurant will beavailable.

Type 3 restaurant—A restaurant that has signed up to be a member of thesystem and method interested only in the incentives program exclusive ofon-line reservations. Editable content regarding the restaurant will beavailable.

Type 4 restaurant—A restaurant that has signed up to be a member of thesystem and method interested in both on-line reservations andincentives. Editable content regarding the restaurant will be available.

Type 5 restaurant—a restaurant participating only in redemptions. Therestaurant will accept member redemption at his restaurant but will notoffer incentives.

When a user accesses the system via the Internet, without regard totheir level of use, they will be given access to certain Web pages,retrieved from server 18, that will be tailored to meet the needs of theuser.

With reference to FIG. 3 a-3 e, illustrating a Web page site map for usein connection with the subject system and method, the following Webpages can be made available to the user:

“What's New”—This is an area that provides the users information aboutnew features of the system site, and press releases from the public.

“Become a Registered Member”—This area will take the user to an areawhere he will enter personal account information in order to join thesystem. The preferred information that the system requests to move theuser to a member is the user's name, email address, zip code, user ID,password, credit card number and billing information. From this screenthe user does not have to enter all information to become a member, butin order to be recognized as even a Level 1 consumer the user must enterhis name, email address, zip code, user ID, password, and passwordhint/answer.

“How iDine can bring the Restaurant and Consumer together”—This will bean area explaining to the consumer and the restaurant what theincentives program is and the benefits that are available to both theconsumer and the restaurant.

“Benefits”—This area will detail to the user the benefits of joining theprograms provided by the system. It reviews the different levels ofmembership for both the restaurant and the consumer, it will provideconsumer/restaurant testimonials, and details about the ability for amember to purchase a dining gift for another person. There will also bea link on this page to get the consumer user to create an account withthe system.

“Create a Personal Page”—This will be an area that is only available onthe system home page to anonymous users. It will link the user to anarea to enter account information, requiring the user's name, emailaddress, zip code, user ID, password, and password hint/answer. Bygiving the system this information the anonymous user will be promotedto a Level 1 consumer and will be a recognized user of the site.

“I'm a Restaurant”—This area will link the user to an area thatdescribes the benefits for a restaurant joining the programs provided bythe system. It will also provide an area for the restaurant to request avisit from sales staff.

“Login”—This area of the screen will provide an opportunity for a user,either a consumer or restaurant, to log into the site as a valid user.

“Promotional Advertisement”—This will be an advertisement area that willmake offers to users to join the system. An example of this would be“Just for visiting the site get 100 points. Click here for details onhow to take advantage of this offer.” The rotation of these promotionsmay occur per user session.

“Featured Restaurant”—The featured restaurant will be an advertisementfor a member restaurant that is offering incentives to users that eitherare members or join the system. In the future it may also be incentivesother than restaurant advertisements such as dinners with the chef andother opportunities. This restaurant may be picked to match as much ofthe consumer's profile information as possible. An example of this willbe if the user is an anonymous user but has visited the site before andhas given his city/zip code to the system, a cookie will store the lastgeographic area searched on and this information will be used to pickthe featured restaurant that will be displayed.

“Make a Reservation”—The user will be able to make a reservation at arestaurant whether or not he is a member of system. This selection willtake the user to an area to perform a search for a restaurant.

“Search for a Restaurant”—The user will be able to search for differentrestaurants based on the different user entered criteria.

“Help”—This section will provide the user with some frequently askedquestions and answers, an overall site map, contact numbers and a way tocontact customer service with either a comment or question.

“About”—This section will detail information about the system. It willcater to both the restaurant and consumer users of the site. It willprovide the user a place to look at investor relation information, pressreleases, contact information, career opportunities available, and forthe restaurants, information about having a sales representative contactthem.

“Registered Incentives Advertisement”—This area of the screen willprovide the user of the site with advertisements for restaurants. Theseadvertisements will be for incentive participating restaurants that areoffering incentives for member customers to register for.

It may be preferred that the site follow the consumer through the Webpages so that he/she has one-click access to the differentopportunities.

To provide a secure login process for both consumers and restaurateurs,the system may check for a user ID and password and, if valid, willrecognize the user with a personal page. The user's access to thedifferent programs of the site will be determined by the restrictions onhis/her login. If the user cannot remember his/her password then he/shecan indicate this at the login screen and will be asked for a passwordhint. This password hint/answer should be a required field in the user'saccount. If the user has a password hint, the system will ask the userthe hint question and, if the correct answer is given, a message isshown to the user that his/her password will be sent to the emailaddress that is listed in the user's account.

When the anonymous user accesses the Web site he/she will be greeted bythe home page that is described above. If the system knows that the useris a previous visitor of the site, for example by the use of a cookie,the system will display an advertisement to entice the user to become amember and try the programs provided by the system. Other than theadvertisements, this is the only difference in the home page for eachvisit of the unregistered user to the site.

When a registered consumer logs into the site, there will be an optionfor the site to remember his/her password. If the consumer chooses tohave the system remember their password the consumer will be recognizedwhen returning to the site. Recognition may be accomplished with agreeting and tailored marketing, however, the user should still berequired to give his/her password when trying to view any accountinformation or history information. If the user does not want the siteto remember his/her password, or does not set their browser accordingly,then, when the user access the Web site, he/she will be taken to thehome page. From the home page the user will be able to log in and viewtheir personalized content. If the user accessing the site is arestaurant, the user will be required to log into the site. Therefore,each time a restaurant access the system they will see the home page andwill have to enter their password to access their personalized page.This is done for security purposes.

To manage all of the user's information, an account management module isprovided. This module will manage each of the accounts in the database,both consumer and restaurant. It will manage all of the user'sinformation, both the profile and account. To access the consumer or therestaurant account information the user must enter his/her password.This will occur even if the user has cookies enabled on his computer andhas been recognized on the site.

To allow restaurants to be become members of the system, it is preferredthat a restaurant be visited by the sales force and sign a contractindicating their type of membership. More specifically, there will be anarea on the home page where the restaurants can access information aboutthe programs provided by the system, enter some minor contactinformation about themselves, and request to be contacted by the salesdepartment. This information will be returned to the system via e-mail.The creation of a restaurant account will be the responsibility of thesales force and customer service. However, once a restaurant isestablished as a member on the system, the restaurant may gain access toand change their account information via a visit to the Internet site.For example, using the Internet access provided by the system a revenuemanagement restaurant will be able to update their incentives andreservations information.

The sales representative will gather sales information about therestaurant and record this information. This information will be keptwhether or not the restaurant signs up with the system. For memberrestaurants, after the initial account has been set up and entered intothe database, the restaurant is given confirmation of their registrationand verification of the restaurant's data in the database. The accountinformation should be comprised of: 1) name of restaurant; 2) name ofcontact; 3) address of restaurant; 4) phone number; 5) E-mail; 6) faxnumber; 7) number of seats; 8) price point (average price for a meal);9) restaurant legal name; 10) tax ID; 11) credit cards that areaccepted; 12) other billing information; 13) neighborhood; 14) cuisine;15) atmosphere; 16) kid friendly; 17) handicap access; 18) cigarfriendly; 19) hours of operation; 20) dress code; 21) entertainment; 22)takeout; 23) delivery; 24) catering; 25) special awards; 26) longdescription (for home page); 27) user ID; 28) password and 29) passwordhint/answer.

While restaurants will have access to the system via the Internet, it ispreferable that the restaurants not be able to delete their accountonline. Rather, the deletion of accounts should be performed by acustomer service representative. Nevertheless, when an account isdeleted, all data will be maintained and the account's status will bechanged to inactive.

To provide an added level of security, the system will require the userto change the password at first login. The user id will be permanent,but the password can be changed as often as needed. The Restaurant canchange their password by accessing their account/profile information onthe personalized page. To change the password, a page will be displayedthat will ask for the restaurateur's current password, for the newpassword, and a confirmation of the new password. The restaurant canalso change their email address by accessing their account/profileinformation on the personalized page.

For providing additional information that may assist a restaurateur tobetter understand their business, the system may be configured toprovide the restaurateur with information, such as system usage/feedbackinformation, based upon a restaurant profile. This profile is generallycreated by posing the following questions to the restaurateur: 1) do youwant to receive reviews/feedback from member customers; 2) do you have aprofile preference for these potential reviewers; 3) do you have acomputer; where is this computer located; 4) do you have Internetaccess; 5) do you use a customer data management system; 6) do you takereservations by fax/Internet browser; 7) what are the best times tocontact; 8) how the restaurant wishes to be contacted (phone, email, inperson); 9) what are gross sales; and 10) do you use a restaurantmanagement system?

For maintaining the restaurant's content page, a module is provided toallow individual restaurants to view their content information. Contentinformation is most of the data that will be displayed on therestaurant's home page. For example, the restaurant menu will beconsidered content information. In one embodiment, merchant serviceswill scan the menu(s) for the restaurant for display on the Internetsite. If the restaurateur wants to change the menus or the pictures ofthe restaurant—the process will be to go through merchant services viaemail or a phone call. When displaying the restaurant's home page, it ispreferred that the home page have a predefined format since it is easierfor the consumer to view restaurant pages on the Web site if the layoutis predictable. In this regard, the restaurant's content page(s) shouldconsist of some or all of these items: 1) the restaurant's contactinformation (address, phone number, fax number)—from the restaurant'saccount information; 2) hours of operation—from the restaurant's accountinformation; 3) photographs of the restaurant; 4) scanned in food menu;5) scanned in wine list; 6) map to restaurant; 7) registered incentives;8) base incentives; 9) reviews; 10) if the restaurant takes onlinereservations; and 11) if the restaurant takes reservations.

For creating a customer account, the system includes a consumer'saccount module. When the customer either creates a “personalized” pageor joins the system as a member a consumer account will be created. Theconsumer will be allowed to view, but preferably not be allowed toupdate, the information in their personal account directly via theInternet. It is preferred that updates to the consumer account behandled via an email or phone call to customer service. The consumeraccount consists of at least: name, email address, zip code, user ID,password, password hint/answer. The member account (level 2) consists ofthe above personal account information plus: address, phone number, andcredit card number(s). Verification will be run on the credit cardinformation. A level 2 consumer who requests removal of his credit cardinformation will temporarily give-up membership status. This action willmove the consumer from a Level 2 to a Level 1 consumer and will notallow usage of the incentive program without re-registering a creditcard number.

In addition to the consumer account information noted above, profileinformation about the consumers will be asked for/volunteered duringsign-up for a personal page and member registration. In addition, thesystem, via cookies, will keep track of what geographic areas theconsumer searches for restaurants in and will use this to drivepersonalization in the future. This profile information may be used toenhance the consumer's enjoyment of the system by, for example, sendingthe consumer promotional materials for which the consumer has indicatedan interest. The profile information may consist of some or all of thefollowing: 1) price range; 2) cities that are visited often; 3)neighborhood/location; 4) typical credit card used; 5) cuisinepreferences; 6) send me emails alerting me to special deals; 7) frequentflyer program memberships; 8) use of the services such as limousine,valet parking, travel agent, rental cars, hotel frequency programs; 9)household income, profession; 10) frequency of business dining; 11) useof dining membership benefits (business, celebrations, holidays, everytime I dine, etc.); 12) send me emails about new restaurants in my area(and my favorite areas); 13) loyalty program number(s)—Frequent flyernumbers, hotel card numbers, etc; 14) dine out most often alone, withfriends or family, with children; 15) send me email to review or givefeedback to restaurants where you have recently visited; 16) types ofmarketing would you like to receive; 17) types of promotions preferred,such as alternate currencies per dollar spent or a percentage off themeal; and 18) important dates. The important dates and a description ofthese dates (e.g. birthdays) will allow the system to drive aspects ofthe personalization. The sending of emails would be managed by thesystem.

To provide for customization of the system Web pages to the specificuser, the consumer profile may be utilized. For example, the system willcreate a personalized page for its Level 1 and 2 consumer. Thecustomized page may offer marketing that will eventually be targeted tothe consumer's account and profile information. Other personalizationfeatures may include: consumer's name, localized restaurants and somelevel of promotion and incentive segregation. When created, thepersonalized page will be used as the default home page for the userwhenever he accesses the system Web site. It will contain functionalityoptions that have been carried over from the home page plus somepersonalization as described above.

It is contemplated that personal pages could be created without theconsumer's direct knowledge. For example, when the consumer requests toget a benefit from a restaurant his name and e-mail address is required.By entering this information the anonymous consumer has just beenpromoted to a Level 1 consumer and will, by default, have a customizedpage.

In a preferred embodiment, the personalized page should contain thefollowing:

My Dining Plans—This section will give the consumer an overview of hispending reservations and registered incentives. It will show a maximumof five reservations with the option that the consumer can one-click into a more expanded list. For each reservation the consumer will be shownthe restaurant's name, the time and the date of the reservation. Theconsumer will be able to select the individual reservations and be giveneven more details of the reservation and the ability to cancel or editit.

New in Area—This area of the site will give a listing of the restaurantsthat are new to the consumer's area. The area will be defined by the zipcode on the consumer's account and the definition of “new” will bedefined by customer service.

My Account—This area of the site will show the consumer a summarizationof the total amount of incentive points, etc. he has collected byparticipating in the system. The view may include a view of theconsumer's historical transactions or allow the consumer to view hisregistered cards. Basic account information should be available forviewing only (level 1 required info as described above).

Redeem Points—In this area the consumer will be able to redeem hisincentive points for dining vouchers, frequent flyer miles, or otherrewards. This may be handled via an email form to customer servicerelease.

Turning now to the restaurant personal page, the purpose of therestaurant personal page is different from the consumer's personal pagein that it is intended to be purely functional. The restaurant will beaccessing this page for the purpose of managing their reservations,incentives or seating allocation. With this in mind, the restaurant'spersonal page may be presented in a tabular format. Each tab on the pagewill represent different functionality that is available to therestaurant, such as:

My Reservations—In this area the restaurant will be able to manage thereservation book and table allocation. The restaurant will be allowed toview the different reservations that have been made at the restaurantand get more detailed information about the reservation includingcomments made by the person who made the reservation. This is also wherethe restaurant can add comments to the consumer who made the reservationfor future use.

My Benefits—This section will detail the benefits that the restaurantreceives by using the incentive or the online reservation program anddetails the current benefits that the restaurant is entitled to.

My Promotions/Incentives—In this section the restaurant can view andedit their incentive program. This includes both the base and theregistered incentives.

My Account/Profile—From this section the restaurant can view theiraccount information and change their password or email account. Therewill be an area for the restaurant to contact a sales representative ormerchant services to update other entries. The restaurant can also viewtheir content page, which will consist of both menus and pictures of therestaurant.

Contact a Sales Representative.

My Customers—This is where the restaurant can see any reviews that passthe webmaster's edits.

As a user aide, there may be a help menu on the left side of the webpage that will summarize the functionality of each tabbed section. Thiswill give the restaurants an overview of what can be done on the siteand help them by providing links to key areas.

To handle any actions that can be performed by both consumers andrestaurants, an all account relations management module is provided. Onesuch action is the providing of user feedback about the system to thesystem administration. Both restaurants and consumers will have theability to provide feedback from the Help menu on any of the site pages.This feedback will be received by the system administration andconfirmed by email.

Another function available to consumers and restaurants is contactingcustomer service. Both the consumer and the restaurant will have theability to contact the systems' customer service with either a commentor a question. This can be done via the Help menu that will be locatedon all site pages.

For use in creating and storing consumer reviews, a create review moduleis provided. This module will allow consumers to create and store theconsumer reviews for the restaurant and other relationship managementactions. A review is consumer generated information about a restaurantthat may be made available to all visitors of the system site. To createa review, a consumer will perform a search and then click through arestaurant's home page. There will no limit on the number of reviewsthat a consumer can create on one restaurant. The review will be a verysimple template that will consist of ratings (i.e. likeability scale,food quality, etc. . . . ) and a comment section. The ratingsinformation and the comment information will be viewed as two separatethings by the system. The consumer's rating information may be simplystored without review. However, if the consumer enters text in thecomment section, it is preferred that the consumer's comments edited ifnecessary before being posted into the restaurant's account. In thisregard, there will be informational messages to tell the user that, ifcomments are entered, the text must go through a review process prior tobeing posted to the site.

After performing a restaurant search of any type, be it for making areservation or performing a general search, the consumer will be able toread the reviews that have been posted for a selected restaurant byother consumers. These reviews will initially consist of an overallrating, indicating an average rating and the number of people that wereaveraged in, and textual comments. The comment reviews may be ranked bythe amount of information available about the person giving the review.For example, if the person giving the review has an associated diningexperience at the restaurant they will be listed first. If there is noinformation on the person giving the review, except the name and emailaddress, it will be listed last. While restaurants may use this methodto also view reviews which are written about their restaurant, thesystem will make such reviews available on the restaurant's personalpage. Reviews and descriptions from third party sources may also be madeavailable.

To enhance the desire to use the system, the system will provide anincentive management module. This module will manage the types andamounts of incentive given to the consumer for dining at particularrestaurants. On a dynamic basis, restaurateurs can create/update/deleteincentives. Incentives include alternate currencies per dollar spent, apercent off the bill total, etc. These incentives can be managed eitheron-line by the restaurateur or they can call a system salesrepresentative. It is also contemplated that a voice response system maybe used for restaurateurs to update incentives.

In a preferred embodiment, there will be two types of incentives thatcan be offered to the consumer. The first is a base incentive, whichwill be offered on a daily basis and does not require the consumer toregister acceptance of the offer with the system or make an onlinereservation. The second type of incentive is a registered incentive thatrequires the consumer to register an intent to dine or to make an onlinereservation. Restaurants can choose to offer any combination of theseincentives, to be offered at anytime of the week, or no incentives atall. Once a consumer has made a reservation or has registered for theincentive the incentive is locked in, and the conditions of theregistered incentive can not be changed. Restaurateurs will be able tomodify registered incentives as needed, however, base incentives shouldonly be updated seven days prior to the set incentive date. For example,if a restaurateur wants to update the next week's base incentives heshould do it before the Monday of the current week.

To provide a convenient means for allowing restauranteurs to sign up forthe incentive plan, a description and the benefits of the restaurantincentives program can be viewed online or be explained by a salesrepresentative. If the restaurant requests, a sales representative cancome out to the restaurant to describe how the program works and thebenefits to joining the program. Once the restaurant has decided to jointhe systems' incentives program, a sales representative will meet withthe restaurateur to discuss and decide on the terms of the agreementwhich will be agreed upon, and printed contract will be signed. Thesales representative will ensure the restaurant is added to the systemdatabase and is properly designated as a restaurant being signed up withincentives. Base incentives may be initialized to a predeterminedamount. Thereafter, the default effective date on the base incentive maybe 10 days after the date the restaurant receives incentives to providethe restaurant a window to change their default base incentives beforethey go into effect.

Base incentives will be stored at the day level along with an effectivedate. When updating a restaurant's base incentives, a business rule(which the web administrator can change) will resolve any conflicts. Asan example of a rule, given that there may be updates to the baseincentives over time, the active base incentive may be designated to bethe one with the highest effective date that is less than or equal tothe current date.

TABLE 1 BASE INCENTIVE EXAMPLE Effective Mon. Tue. Wed. Thu. Fri. Sat.Sun. Date 10% 20% 20% 10% Jan. 1, 2000 15% 20% 20% Mar. 1, 2000 20% 20%20% 20% 10% 10% 10% Jun. 1, 2000

In the example illustrated in TABLE 1, the active base incentive wouldbe the record with the effective date of ‘3/1/2000’ on the date May 25,2000.

To ensure that consumers have ample time in viewing and understandingrestaurants' base discounts, restaurants should give consumers sevendays prior notice of changes of their base incentives. The restaurantscan enter as many base incentive records as they would like as long asthe effective date is greater than seven days from the current date.Furthermore, pre-defined black-out days may be offered by the system ina drop-down menu format. Black-out days—if selected—will over-ride thebase incentive for the day. They will be listed in the “base incentive”explanation for each restaurant that chooses black-out days. Theconsumer will be able to tell in advance if a black-out day has beenchosen by a restaurant.

After a restaurateur has signed up for incentives they have the abilityto make changes to their registered incentives any time they want viathe internet or over the phone with a customer service or salesrepresentative. Registered incentives will be stored at the day levelalong with an effective date and expiration date. Restaurants are notrequired to have registered incentives. Registered incentives may begiven in addition to any base incentives that a consumer might receive.

At any single point in time a restaurant can only have one activeregistered incentive record. This is enforced by ensuring that anincentive record can not have an effective date that is less thananother incentive record's expiration date and also greater than thatsame record's effective date. The restaurant will also specify themaximum number of times they are willing to extend the registeredpromotional incentive per any given day.

TABLE 2 EXAMPLE OF INCENTIVE RECORDS Effective Expire Max. Mon. Tue.Wed. Thu. Fri. Sat. Sun. Date- Date Offers 10% Jan. 1, 2000 Mar. 1, 20005 15% Mar. 1, 2000 Jun. 1, 2000 5 20% Jun. 1, 2000 5

In the scenario presented in Table 2, the active registered incentivewould be 15% off on all Thursdays until Jun. 1, 2000 when it goes up to20% off. The restaurateur can change their registered incentives at anytime, but once a customer has made a valid reservation or has registeredfor the incentive (made an “intent to dine”) the incentive is locked in,and the amount can not be changed for that particular consumer. Once themaximum number of consumers have validly registered their intent to takeadvantage of the incentive on any given day, the incentive will nolonger be offered on that day.

As a further incentive, points may be accumulated through diningexperiences which can be redeemed for electronic dining vouchers,frequent flyer miles, etc. With respect to dining vouchers, the amountsmay be in increments, for example, of $25.00 with the smallest amountbeing $25.00. The assumption will be that any amount of the voucher thatthe consumer does not use on his meal is lost. The number of pointsrequired to purchase a voucher may be dynamic and may be determined by abusiness rule which takes into account the type of restaurant and theday-of-the-week. By way of example, the cost of a voucher will depend onwhether the diner wishes to dine during off-peak hours (5,000points=$100 voucher) or peak hours (6,500 points=$100 voucher). Eachrestaurant will indicate peak and off peak times. The consumer mustspecify the name of the restaurant where the voucher will be used andthe date that the voucher will be used. There will be a link to theonline reservation page of the site from this part of the application. Aconfirmation of the redemption will be sent to the consumer after theredemption transaction is completed, and the consumer's customized pagewill indicate existing and unused redemption points.

To redeem incentive points, consumers will be able to view their totalpoints from the consumer's personal page and select the option to redeemtheir points for dining vouchers. Once the user has selected the optionto redeem their points, they will be taken to a new page where they canselect from a drop down list of predefined dining vouchers, such as“Dinner for 2, up to $100.” Next the consumer will select the day of theweek and the restaurant where the diner will occur. Depending on whetherthe restaurant has defined the preferred day of the week as off-peak orpeak will effect the number of points needed to earn the dining voucher.The restaurant selected must be a Level 3, Level 4, or Level 5restaurant. A search will be offered to help the user in selecting aparticipating restaurant. If the restaurant allows reservations one canbe made at this time, or a later date.

Upon submitting their dining voucher request, the system performs avalidation to ensure the user has enough points to honor the request. Ifthe user does not have enough points the system them will help make adining voucher match by offering the user an alternative restaurant orday to dine. Upon the successful redemption of points, a confirmationwill be sent to the user confirming the amount of the virtual voucher,the restaurant and day of the week it is good for, and a voucher uniquetracking number. If the voucher is redeemed for less than the voucher'sdollar amount, then the operators of the system will be credited withthe dollar balance. If the consumer does not use the dining voucher bydining on the chosen date and at the chosen restaurant, then his/hervoucher will expire and their points will revert back to their pointbank.

To view the incentives that restaurants are offering, the user canaccess the information by looking at the restaurant's personal page.There will be a link from the page to this information. Alternatively,when making a reservation (selecting the time, number in party, etc. . .. ) the consumer can choose to view the incentives offered by therestaurant. Still further, the user can click through one of therotating “restaurant incentives” ads and be taken to the restaurant'spersonal page to view the incentives. Thereafter, the consumer canregister for a promotional incentive in several different ways: 1) byclicking through an ad in the rotating “restaurant incentive” banner andthen accepting the offer with a click on “yes”; 2) by performing abiased search for the registered incentives on restaurants, viewing theregistered incentive and then clicking “accept” on a particularincentive to select it; and 3) by performing a regular search on arestaurant, viewing the registered incentive and then clicking on“accept.”

If the consumer has not given the system their credit card informationthey will be required to do so before they can register for thepromotional incentive. Also, in order to take advantage of a registeredincentive a date the user intends to dine must be provided by the user.If the promotion is still available on that day the consumer will beregistered for the incentive, otherwise he/she will be notified that thepromotion is full on their intended dining date and will be offered thenext available registered incentive. The consumer will be able to viewhis/her registered incentives on their personal page. All future diningexperiences, both registered incentives and reservations will be listedtogether and can be easily viewed on the consumer's personal page.

To assist in taking online reservations, the system includes areservation book that is created and updated with those reservationsthat are made through the system. The reservation book will keep trackof the number of open seats available in a restaurant and will re-opentables after a reservation has been made if the restaurant wants to keepa fixed number of tables open online. The restaurant may specify thetotal number of tables in the restaurant that are to be included in thesystem database and then choose a number of these tables as eligible foronline reservations. The tables will by allocated by percentages or rawnumbers and may also be allocated by day of the week. For example,Monday may have 5% of the tables allocated for online reservation butTuesday has 10%. The minimum number of tables that can be allocated foronline reservation is one. Table allocation can be changed using abrowser and interacting with a system account or by calling or faxing asystem administrator and asking for help with setting up or updating theonline reservation service. In this manner, the restaurateur may managethe number of seats that are available to the consumer online at anytime thereby providing for real time adjustment.

When an online reservation is made, the restaurants will be notifiedwhen a table in their restaurant has been reserved. This may be done viathe Restaurant's system account, on-line, phone, or by fax. Theinformation that the restaurant will receive should be the customer'sname, the number in the party, the time, their smoking preference, anycomments that have been made by the consumer regarding his reservationand a tracking number. The restaurant will also have the ability to addcomments to the consumer's reservation. These comments will be displayedfor the restaurant along with the consumer's current reservationinformation at his next reservation at this restaurant.

To obtain an online reservation, a consumer need only click on an onlinereservations icon that is displayed next to a desired restaurant. Theconsumer will be required to enter the date and time of the reservation,the number in the dining party and the smoking preference. If theconsumer selects the “Make a Reservation” heading, a search page will bepresented with the above information requested, as well as an option forthe consumer to search for all available reservations, for the chosendate/time, for all restaurants defined by the search area. For example,the consumer selects “Make a Reservation,” enters March 26 at 7:00 p.m.as the date and time of the dine and chooses to see all availablereservations. The consumer will be required to define an area(city/state, zip proximity, or state/neighborhood) to perform thesearch. Once the consumer chooses an area, the consumer can furtherlimit the search by choosing the cuisine of the restaurant. The searchwill return all available reservations for March 26 at 7:00 p.m., forall restaurants within the chosen area and with the chosen cuisine. Theconsumer then chooses one of these restaurants from the list to completethe reservation. The consumer does not have to be a member of the systemto make a reservation but incentives will be contingent on membership.

If there is a reservation available at the restaurant, a message will bedisplayed offering the consumer the time desired plus two alternatetimes (one at least 15 minutes before the desired time and one at least15 minutes after the desired time). The consumer can then confirm toreserve the table. However, if no reservation at the desired time isavailable, alternate times that night will be shown and the consumerwill also be given the opportunity to perform a search for restaurantswith open reservations at the desired time. Once the reservation is madethe consumer will have the option to send the restaurant and reservationinformation to a friend via email.

One preferred constraint to the online reservation is that a consumer isnot allowed to make more than three reservations on a given night orwith in a 4 hour time period. There will also be a warning message shownto the user if he makes a reservation that either conflicts or is withinthe four-hour window. The user can override this message. The consumerwill be reminded the day of the reservation of the existence ofreservations at conflicting times.

If the consumer chooses not to show up for a reservation made at arestaurant online then a record may be kept of the number of no-showsfor this consumer and he/she runs the risk of losing the onlinereservation privilege. The restaurant can also require that the consumerenter a credit card number and expiration date explaining that a no-showwill result in a monetary penalty. The charge penalty for a no-show willbe the responsibility of the restaurant.

To avoid no-shows, the consumer may be sent an e-mail reminder of thereservation on the day of the reservation. On the consumer's personalpage there will also be an area for the consumer to view his pendingreservations, a link to more detail about the reservation and theability to update or delete the reservation. The reservation can beedited up to one hour before the reservation time subject to theavailability of inventory.

To search for restaurants at which to dine, a search may be performedthat will return to the consumer a list of the restaurants that matchthe criteria. A short description of the restaurants may also beprovided. If the restaurant participates as a system member that takesonline reservations, then the consumer can make an online reservation orlink to the restaurant's personal page.

More specifically, the consumer can search based upon the followingcriteria:

Search on the area where the restaurant is located. This requires thatthe consumer enter the state and location information to use in thesearch. The location information will be the city and neighborhood tosearch.

Search on proximity of the restaurant to a given zip code. The defaultzip code will be the consumer's account zip code. The consumer will beable to select the number of miles from a list of 5 miles, 10 miles or15 miles.

Search on detailed information about the restaurant. The consumer willbe required to enter the city and state to search in. Optionalinformation will be the name of the restaurant.

Search on the restaurant's area code (use area code/location bartranslation)

Enter the restaurant name directly to search on a pattern match

Cuisine

Promotions/incentives

Credit Cards accepted

Price Range

Reservation availability (both online and not online)

Membership in the system

Performing the search will give the consumer a list of the restaurantsthat match the criteria, a short description of the restaurant and anicon for each relevant content item held by the system for therestaurant (accepts online reservations, has a map, offersbase/registered incentives, online menu, etc.). In addition, if theconsumer is recognized by the Web site as a Level 1 and above consumer,and the restaurant is a member of the system, then a checkbox willappear allowing the restaurant to be added to the consumer's favoriterestaurant list. The checkbox will also indicate if the restaurant isalready on the list. This checkbox can be toggled to indicate that it isnot to be included as a favorite restaurant. The results of the searchwill be unbiased and in alphabetical order unless the consumer choosesto perform a “biased” search, one that gives preferential treatment tomember restaurants, by selecting a checkbox that will appear on thesearch form. Also, if the Consumer has performed a search by proximitythe restaurants will be listed by nearest to farthest.

After the search has completed there may also be provided a link to amore detailed page for the restaurant. Listed on this page are consumerreviews, the ability to send the information on this restaurant toanyone via email, and the ability for the consumer to perform anothersearch that returns the consumer to the detailed search page. Thedetailed page may also include pictures of the restaurant and links tothe restaurant's menus. If the restaurant belongs to the system and haselected to have online reservations, then the consumer will be able toaccess that restaurant's online reservation book to make an onlinereservation or link to the restaurant's content page. The consumer willalso be able to send the results of the restaurant search to a friendsimply by providing the email address that he would like to send it to.

To validate when rewards are earned, a credit card transactionaggregator 16 is utilized that matches credit card charges at memberrestaurants with credit card account numbers of enrolled members. Theinformation returned from the credit card transaction aggregator 16 iscompared with enrollment and updated information stored in the databaseassociated with server 18. With reference to the data flow diagrams ofFIGS. 4 a and 4 b, the process proceeds with the system sendingenrollments and redemption/incentive transactions to the database 18.The system also sends a daily file of registered credit cards andparticipating merchant numbers to the credit card transaction aggregator16. The credit card transaction aggregator 16 compares informationreceived from the system with the daily file, which includes informationthat is representative of registered credit cards and participatingmerchant numbers and matched transactions are forwarded to the server18. A further verification can take place at the server 18 to ensurethat the merchant number and/or frequent diner registered card containedin the record returned from the credit card transaction aggregator 16are participating members.

If a match has occurred, one of the following types of activities hasbeen launched:

frequent diner acceptance of restaurant registered incentives—when afrequent diner signals his intent to accept a restaurant's registeredincentive offer by clicking through the acceptance path and completingthe required information, a registered incentive transaction ismaintained in a daily transaction file. A registered incentive is validfor a particular day at a particular restaurant and may be restricted toa restaurant-determined number of tables. Frequent diners who attempt toregister may find they exceeded the number of tables the restaurant isoffering. In such a case, a message indicating that there are no moretables available for this offer on the particular day issent—highlighting the scarcity of the offer and encouraging more timelyresponsiveness in the future by the frequent diner. The key used to linka matched transaction from the credit card transaction aggregator to apending, registered incentive is the merchant number and frequent dinercredit card. If there is a match on both of these elements and a matchbetween the registered incentive offer date and the transaction date,then the system creates a reward record for the member to be used in thereward delivery/qualification process, i.e., updates the customer'salternate currency total or informs the credit card company to reducethe customer's charges.

merchant basic incentive offers—If a merchant chooses to set-up a basicincentive for a particular day, a daily file is maintained. The key usedto link a matched transaction from the credit card transactionaggregator is the merchant number and frequent diner registered cardwhich are verified as participating members. If the members areparticipating and the transaction date matches a basic incentive date,the frequent diner will get the basic incentive reward, i.e., the creditcard company will be instructed to reduce the customer's charge.

While the foregoing describes the basic features of the subjectinvention, additional features may be added that include online accessto consumer and/or restaurant transaction history. For example, theConsumer may be able to view his points bank online. There may also be alink to contact customer service (via email or phone) so that theconsumer can get historical transaction information, report any missingitems or make comments.

As noted above, the subject system and method allows for a restaurant toset time of day/week/month dining incentives by which the consumer canobtain a reward for dining at an established incentive time. This isparticularly advantageous to restaurants as the incentive plan may beused to entice diners at otherwise off-peak demand times within therestaurant. To ensure that the rewards are awarded, as illustrated inFIG. 5, the restaurant notifies the system administrator of the time ofday/week/month that the incentive is being offered and the details ofthe incentive. This information may then be communicated to consumerswhereby a consumer can make a reservation through the system to dine atthe member restaurant during the specified incentive time.

To determine that the consumer has fulfilled the reservation, the timestamp of the credit card transaction is compared against the time thereservation was made. For day of week or day of month incentives, thiscomparison need only examine the day field of the credit cardtransaction record to determine if the reservation was fulfilled duringthe incentive day. For time of day incentives, the comparison examinesthe day and time fields of the credit card transaction record todetermine if the reservation was fulfilled during the incentive time ofthe incentive day.

To ensure that the fulfillment took place at approximately the time thereservation was made for time of day incentive plans, a time window isadded to the reservation time and the credit card time field is examinedto determine if it falls within this time window on the appropriate day.For example, a restaurant can offer incentives to a consumer if theconsumer dines at the restaurant between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. on aWednesday. If the consumer then makes a reservation for 5 p.m. onWednesday the consumer is eligible for the incentive and the system willdetermine that the incentive has been earned if the meal is paid forusing the registered credit card within a predetermined time window onthe incentive day (e.g., using a 2 hour window the payment should occurbetween 5 p.m.-7 p.m. if the reservation time was met by the consumer).It will be appreciated that the time window need not start at thereservation time but can start at some predetermined time after thereservation time. In this manner, the system accounts for the timebetween the time of reservation and the time of payment, i.e., the timetaken to seat the consumer at the restaurant, the time to eat the meal,etc.

While specific embodiments of the invention have been described indetail, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and alternatives to those details could be developed inlight of the overall teachings of the disclosure. For example, allevents (such as registration, changing restaurant rewards, changingreservations, making reservations, etc.) need not be performed via acomputer network but can be accomplished by placing a phone call,sending a fax, etc. to a representative of the entity that manages therewards program. This entity can similarly notify the participants byphone, fax, mail, etc. of changes in rewards offered, changes inreservations, to make reservations, etc. Accordingly, the particulararrangement disclosed is meant to be illustrative only and not limitingas to the scope of the invention which is to be given the full breadthof the appended claims and any equivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-readable media having instructionsdisposed therein for providing benefits associated with an incentiveprogram to a member consumer when the member consumer conducts atransaction using a registered credit card with one of a plurality ofmember business that meets a requirement of the incentive programassociated with the member business, the instructions comprising aseries of computer readable program steps to effect: receiving creditcard transaction information including information identifying aplurality of consumers, information identifying a plurality ofbusinesses, information pertaining to the purchase of goods or servicesby each of the plurality of consumers from one or more of the pluralityof businesses, wherein each said purchase was made using a registeredcredit card; determining if one of the consumers identified in thecredit card transaction information is the member consumer; if one ofthe consumers is the member consumer, determining if the member consumerconducted a transaction with one of the plurality of member businesses;if the consumer is the member consumer and the member consumer conducteda transaction with one of the plurality of member businesses, rewardingthe member consumer with incentive points in accordance with therequirements of the incentive program associated with the respectivemember business; transmitting via a computer network information to themember consumer about the incentive points rewarded; and accepting viathe computer network a request from the member consumer to redeem atleast a portion of the incentive points associated with the memberconsumer.
 2. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, whereinthe information identifying the plurality of consumers includes a creditcard number for each of the consumers, wherein the instructions furthercomprise a series of computer readable program steps to effect comparingthe credit card number for each of the consumers against a credit cardnumber associated with the member consumer.
 3. The computer-readablemedia as recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions further comprise aseries of computer readable program steps to effect comparing theinformation identifying each of the businesses against a list of memberbusinesses.
 4. The computer-readable media as recited in claim 1,wherein the instructions further comprise a series of computer readableprogram steps to effect receiving the transaction information from acredit card processor.
 5. The computer-readable media as recited inclaim 1, wherein the instructions further comprise a series of computerreadable program steps to effect, if the consumer is the member consumerand the member consumer conducted a transaction with one of theplurality of member businesses, determining if the transaction meets therequirements of the incentive program associated with the memberbusiness, wherein the member consumer is only rewarded if thetransaction does meet the requirements.
 6. The computer-readable mediaas recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions further comprise aseries of computer readable program steps to effect transmitting via thecomputer network an advertisement to the member consumer for one of theplurality of member businesses that is associated with a reward forconducting a future transaction.
 7. The computer-readable media asrecited in claim 1, wherein the instructions further comprise a seriesof computer readable program steps to effect receiving via the computernetwork a review from the member consumer for one of the plurality ofmember businesses.
 8. A computer-readable media having instructionsdisposed therein for accepting a reservation from a member consumer andrewarding the member consumer with benefits as defined by an incentiveprogram associated with one of a plurality of member businesses, theinstructions comprising a series of computer readable program steps toeffect: accepting via a computer network a registration of the memberconsumer entitling the member consumer to benefits as defined by theincentive program, wherein the registration includes a credit cardassociated with the member consumer; comparing credit card transactionalinformation representative of a plurality of credit card transactionswith the registered credit card associated with the member consumer todetermine if one of the transactions was performed by the memberconsumer using their registered credit card at one of the plurality ofmember businesses, where the credit card transactional information iscollected by a credit card processor; rewarding the member consumer withbenefits as defined by the associated incentive program when the memberconsumer performed a transaction using their registered credit card atone of the plurality of member businesses; and accepting via thecomputer network one or more reservations from the member consumer tovisit one of the plurality of member businesses.
 9. The computerreadable media as recited in claim 8, wherein the benefits includesincentive points, wherein the instructions further comprise a series ofcomputer readable program steps to effect accepting via the computernetwork a request from the consumer to redeem at least a portion of theincentive points associated with the member consumer.
 10. The computerreadable media as recited in claim 9, wherein the request includes aselection, wherein the selection is associated with a number ofincentive points, wherein the instructions further comprise a series ofcomputer readable program steps to effect validating that the number ofincentive points associated with the member consumer is equal to orgreater than the number of incentive points associated with theselection.
 11. The computer readable media as recited in claim 10,wherein the instructions further comprise a series of computer readableprogram steps to effect, when the number of incentive points associatedwith the member consumer is not equal to or greater than the number ofincentive points associated with the selection, transmitting via thecomputer network a suggestion to the member consumer of an alternateselection that is associated with a number of incentive points that isequal to or less than the number of incentive points associated with themember consumer.
 12. The computer readable media as recited in claim 10,wherein the instructions further comprise a series of computer readableprogram steps to effect transmitting via the computer network aconfirmation to the member consumer that at least a portion of theincentive points associated with the member consumer was redeemed forthe selection.
 13. The computer readable media as recited in claim 10,wherein the number of incentive points associated with the selection isdynamic, wherein wherein the instructions further comprise a series ofcomputer readable program steps to effect applying a business rule todetermine the current number of incentive points associated with theselection.
 14. The computer readable media as recited in claim 8,wherein the instructions further comprise a series of computer readableprogram steps to effect transmitting via the computer networkreservation information to the member consumer, wherein the reservationinformation comprises a day, time, and member business associated withat least one pending reservation associated with the member consumer.15. The computer readable media as recited in claim 14, wherein theinstructions further comprise a series of computer readable programsteps to effect accepting via the computer network a modification fromthe member consumer to at least one pending reservation associated withthe member consumer.
 16. The computer readable media as recited in claim14, further comprise a series of computer readable program steps toeffect transmitting a reminder via the computer network to the memberconsumer of one or more reservations associated with the memberconsumer.
 17. A computer-readable media having instructions disposedtherein for allowing a member business to coordinate reservations by aplurality member consumers and to manage benefits as defined by anincentive program associated with the member business, the instructionscomprising a series of computer readable program steps to effect:accepting via a computer network a registration for each of theplurality of member consumers entitling each the plurality of memberconsumer to benefits of the incentive program, wherein the registrationincludes a credit card associated with each of the plurality of memberconsumers; comparing credit card transactional informationrepresentative of a plurality of credit card transactions with theregistered credit card associated with each of the plurality of memberconsumers to determine if one of the transactions was performed by oneof the plurality of member consumers with the member business usingtheir registered credit card, where credit card transactionalinformation is collected by a credit card processor; when one of theplurality of member consumers performed a transaction with the memberbusiness using their registered credit card, rewarding the memberconsumer with benefits as defined by the incentive program; andaccepting via the computer network a modification from the memberbusiness to the incentive program.
 18. The computer readable media asrecited in claim 17, wherein said modification includes an effectivedate, wherein the instructions further comprise a series of computerreadable program steps to effect making the modification to theincentive program effective on the effective date.
 19. The computerreadable media as recited in claim 17, wherein the instructions furthercomprise a series of computer readable program steps to effect:accepting via the computer network a first incentive associated with afirst criteria and a second incentive associated with a second criteriafrom the member business; wherein said rewarding the member consumerfurther comprises a series of computer program steps to effectdetermining whether the first criteria or the second criteria is met,wherein said rewarding further comprises rewarding the first incentivewhen the first criteria is met and rewarding the second incentive whenthe second criteria is met.
 20. The computer readable media as recitedin claim 17, wherein the instructions further comprise a series ofcomputer readable program steps to effect accepting via the computernetwork one or more black-out dates from the member business, whereinthe member consumer is not rewarded with benefits when the transactionwith the member business occurred on the one or more black out dates.21. The computer readable media as recited in claim 17, wherein theinstructions further comprise a series of computer readable programsteps to effect accepting via the computer network an expiration datefrom the member business, wherein the member consumer is not rewardedwith benefits when the transaction with the member business occurredafter the expiration date.
 22. The computer readable media as recited inclaim 17, wherein the instructions further comprise a series of computerreadable program steps to effect accepting via the computer network amaximum number of participants from the member business, wherein themember consumer is not rewarded with the benefits when the transactionwith the member business occurred after the maximum number ofparticipants had been reached.
 23. The computer readable media asrecited in claim 17, wherein the instructions further comprise a seriesof computer readable program steps to effect accepting via the computernetwork one or more reservations to visit the member business from oneor more of the plurality of member consumers.
 24. The computer readablemedia as recited in claim 23, wherein the instructions further comprisea series of computer readable program steps to effect transmitting viathe computer network reservation information to the member business. 25.The computer readable media as recited in claim 24, wherein theinstructions further comprise a series of computer readable programsteps to effect accepting via the computer network a change to a numberof seats available for reservation by the plurality of member consumers.